About the Book

Images from PHOTOGRAPHING GUADALUPE were made in and around Mexico City at the shrine of Tepeyac, the ruins of Teotiucan, the Museo Nacional de Antropología, and the Zocolo. All images were made with a toy snapshot Russian Lomo camera and old fashioned film.

Each year, millions of pilgrims pay their reverent, penitent, and ecstatic respects at this, the most visited site of goddess worship in the western hemisphere. In 2002 Juan Diego, the humble Aztec convert who was visited by Guadalupe back in 1535, was declared the first and only indigenous Saint in the history of the Catholic Church by the ailing pope, despite doubts within the church herself of his historical existence.

This 160 page book contains full spread, two page images, along with several short essays about photography and Guadalupe by Michael Rauner. Also included is an English translation of the oldest surviving written account of the original Guadalupe visit, the Huei Tlamahuitzoltica, written in 1649 in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega, a canon lawyer and the Vicar of Tepeyac.

(A technical note: the images in Blurb's preview appear to repeat in the gutter of the book / center of the image. That is to account for the page loss due to Blurb's binding process. The images appear to be more seamless as a printed book then they appear here in the preview. You can see more of this portfolio on my website under "projects" at http://www.michaelrauner.com)

About the Author

Michael Rauner is a photographer and a lover of books, dangerous animals, and the holy ghost. Since the turn of the century, he has spent most of his time pursuing photographic projects about illusive, sacred, and unusual pockets of the Californian landscape. His critically acclaimed book with author Erik Davis, "The Visionary State: A Journey thorough California's Spiritual Landscape" was published by Chronicle Books.
Michael exhibits his work internationally and has work in numerous public collections, including the permanent collection of the SFMoMA and the Bancroft Library.
PRINTS and a COLLECTOR'S EDITION of each project in a boxed, signed, limited edition fine art book are available from the artist: michael@michaelrauner.com
Michael offers his artist book projects thorough Blurb at cost. The prices are Blurb's prices for best cover, paper quality and design free of corporate branding.

Comments (6)

Comment posted.

runningwild says
This is an outstanding superb book, but why such a tiny camera to do it all? Please get yourself some better camera equipment since you need sharper images and more depth of field ... this is quite extraordinary and very beautiful .. have you thought of showing it to the country's tourist board?

posted at 07:32pm Jan 17 PST

Rauner says
Not to be snide or offensive, but dogma and belief often obscure reality. In this case, it obscures the obvious reality that Guadalupe is worshiped as a goddess, which technically is a heresy to traditional Roman Catholics, but there it is. Anyway, Guadalupe is from Mexico, not Rome, and people worship differently in Latin America, with a very different history. There is more about this and Guadalupe's Aztec origins in the essay of the book. The holy ghost moves in strange and mysterious ways. And genders. Amen!

posted at 12:41pm Dec 13 PST

pacitucho says
As a catholic I don't think this book is offensive at all. I actually think this is a very serious artist book that goes beyond any traditional concept of pilgrimage. It is obvious the the author has a very deep understanding of what it is to be a Guadalupano.

posted at 12:31am Sep 20 PST

TheBarrister says
"Goddess worship" is a rather snide and offensive comment to Catholics, and shows an absolute lack of understanding on your part with respect to Catholic dogma and beliefs. I also don't buy the "visionary artist" concept here - a book consisting mostly of photographs of paintings and displays is hardly visionary.

posted at 08:15pm Sep 19 PST

miracle_head says
If a book can have a soul, then this book is the patron saint of photography books. Having just wandered through it I feel as if I just got home from Mexico City. This artist is a visionary (and a mighty fine bookmaker to boot).

posted at 09:15pm Aug 04 PST

helloari says
Wow, these image build a great sense of place - i feel a kind of lonely aura from these objects even as they are surrounded by people.